Author: News Desk

Family warn XL Bully owners after ‘kind-hearted’ Hornchurch mother killed by pets The family of a “kind-hearted” mother killed by one of her registered XL Bully dogs have urged other owners to give up the breed if they show a hint of aggression. Angeline Mahal, believed to be in her fifties, was attacked by her two dogs at the semi-detached home in Cornwall Close in Hornchurch just after 1pm on Monday. Armed police attended the scene and told neighbours in the cul-de-sac to stay indoors before the area was evacuated shortly after 4pm. Despite London Ambulance Service sending paramedics and…

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline to become ‘dark, spangly’ stage musical Playwright Zinnie Harris and composer Louis Barabbas’s adaptation of the novel will open at Leeds Playhouse and tour in 2025 Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novella Coraline is to be turned into a musical that will tour the UK in 2025. The children’s fable, which found a new audience 15 years ago as a stop-motion animation by Henry Selick, has been adapted by playwright Zinnie Harris and composer Louis Barabbas. Harris fell in love with Gaiman’s dark fantasy when reading it to her children and quickly saw its potential for the stage. Over…

Crucial reforms to help thousands trapped in indeterminate jail terms fail after Labour peers ‘bottle it’ Crucial reforms to help thousands of prisoners trapped under abolished indefinite jail terms have failed after Labour refused to back changes to the parole process. The party has been accused of turning its back on desperate families of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoners in a crunch House of Lords debate on Tuesday. The controversial sentences – in which offenders were handed minimum jail terms but no maximum – were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but not for those already sentenced, leaving thousands languishing in…

Demand for Taylor Swift’s UK tour could fuel summer ticket fraud bonanza | Ticket prices The clamour to secure tickets for Taylor Swift’s sold-out UK shows is expected to fuel a summer fraud bonanza as figures showed a “staggering” £1.2bn was stolen from unwitting consumers in 2023. Swift’s Eras tour, which arrives in the UK in June, and the Olympic Games, are contenders for biggest ticketing scam of the year. The warning, from industry group UK Finance, came as its annual fraud report revealed that the number of people succumbing to a “purchase scam” in 2023 soared. In this type…

Mr Ryan said the asylum seekers were moved as accommodation became available and not because of the sporting spectacle.

More than 1,000 slave labourers may have died in Nazi camps on Alderney, review finds | Channel Islands More than 1,000 slave labourers may have died on British soil at the hands of the Nazis in the second world war, hundreds more deaths than were officially recorded in historical archives, a review has found. Labourers on the island of Alderney were “subject to atrocious living and working conditions, which included starvation, long working hours, completing dangerous construction works, beatings, maiming, torture, being housed in inadequate accommodation and, in some cases, executions”, the review said. Alderney constituted a ‘mini-Auschwitz It also…

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay opens up after losing hands and feet to sepsis A Conservative MP has opened up about losing his arms and legs to sepsis. Craig Mackinlay is due to return to parliament for the first time after suffering a septic shock in September 2023. Speaking to the BBC, the MP for South Thanet recalled the shock of waking from a 16-day induced coma to find his limbs had turned black. “I remember coming to and there were discussions happening about these arms and legs. By then, they had turned black, they were like plastic,” Mr Mackinlay said.…

Police chiefs say prison crisis in England and Wales is ‘unsustainable’ | Prisons and probation Police chiefs have told ministers they fear that the crisis gripping the Prison Service in England and Wales is “unsustainable” and risks public safety, the Guardian has learned. Government and prison chiefs have taken a series of crisis measures because of overcrowding, including plans to free convicted criminals early and using police cells to house those who otherwise would be in jail. Sources with knowledge of the discussions between government and senior police leaders, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council chair, Gavin Stephens, confirmed the…

Rishi Sunak backtracks plan to restrict graduate visas after cabinet opposition | International students Plans for a radical crackdown on graduate visas that allow overseas students to work in the UK for up to two years after graduation look set to be abandoned by the prime minister after coming up against staunch opposition from cabinet colleagues. Rishi Sunak had been considering restricting and even scrapping the graduate visa route as a way of reducing migration figures, but he is now expected to opt for more modest reforms to close loopholes and “prevent abuse” of the immigration system. Among the measures…

XL Bully attack – latest: Woman killed by two dogs in Hornchurch named as neighbours feared for their children There is no bias in the original title provided. Rishi Sunak explains why the XL Bully dog was added to the banned breeds under the Dangerous Dogs Act earlier this yearGet the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailA woman killed by her XL Bully dogs at her house in east london has been named locally as Angeline Mahal. Ms Mahal, believed to be in her 50s, was attacked…